Woodworking Business. You have wondered what it could be like making an income doing something you absolutely love to. Well the good maake is that you do not have to stay in the dark about. There are easy ways to test the waters and take woodworkimg from. You must be already good at making something out of wifh. Perhaps you like making small furniture or you like to carve decorative pieces. If you do not have anything particular you like to make, think about your strengths. The idea here is to change your own mindset and start thinking of objects that others would want to buy from you. So they have to be 2 things, articles of good quality and make and something people will want. Make a small craft. Small enough to be easily sold locally or even smaller to be sold and shipped with ease online. There are plenty of small furniture and woodcraft ideas you can use.
I periodically receive emails from aspiring woodworkers who are looking to start a new woodworking business. Most of them say something like,. Do you have tips or advice for someone just starting out? I always feel a bit awkward as I break the news to them: I do not make my living as a professional woodworker. Every dollar I make comes from videos, books, dvds, advertising, sponsorship, and teaching engagements. In the past, I did run a custom furniture business. None of these jobs paid well and I kept my doors open by taking on refinishing work, working part time in a refinishing shop, and collaborating with another local woodworker on larger commercial projects. At one point, I even had to find a job just to make ends meet until the woodworking business picked up again. At this point, I had already established a relationship with my mentor David Marks and we collaborated on a little side business selling veneer cut-offs and walnut burl bowl blanks sourced from Northern California. I also taught woodworking classes to locals in my shop for a while.
In spite of working my butt off, I was just barely getting by. In an effort to boost business, I came up with the idea to start filming my projects. The goal was to show clients just how much work went into their furniture so that perhaps I could start charging what I felt my time was worth. In fact, The Wood Whisperer was officially the first woodworking video podcast. So within a few months of launching my first video, I came to realize my future was in online education and not furniture production. This is why I feel I am in absolutely NO position to dispense advice to people who are looking to start a woodworking business. Not to mention, there are so many variables to consider: your shop, your skill, your target market, your competitive edge if you have one , your family, your motivation, your business acumen, and the viability of your products, just to name a few. For this person, I recommend doing what I did when I started out: hold down a solid job while building the business on the side. Furthermore, you can use your steady paycheck to purchase the tools and other things you might need for your business to run smoothly. You keep your day job!
Woodworking – a hobby that can pay you for practicing it
Woodworking can become an expensive pastime with the high prices on quality power tools and wood itself not being very cheap. Money generated from selling your wood crafts can be used for the purchasing of more wood and more tools for more woodworking. If you can manage to generate enough revenue from what you sell you can reach a point where your hobby does not cost you money. Or better yet, get paid to do what you love. The fastest way to destroy your love for woodworking is to add an obligation to it.
You can find potential customers whatever your products might be: from simple products like wands and picture frames to cabinets and coffee tables. You can also get a custom profile to promote your other products. As a matter of fact, when she shows off what she bought from you , she’ll tell her friends » Look at this great looking piece I was able to find! Then include all your material cost, even including glue, nails, and screws for that particular project. Which means that everyone can be a potential client. If you’re planning to turn your woodworking skills into a small business then let your accountant help you set up your costs of running a shop. Making an item like this for yourself is one thing but if you include this in your portfolio of sellable items then you’ll lose time and money! Wood is your main product, and each wood that is wasted becomes a loss in your part. How To Fine Woodworking Logos Woodworking How To Laminate Cabinets
Get Started
Learning how to make money woodworking shouldn’t be a mystery once you’ve given some thought to some business basics. One of the costliest lessons learned by many small shop woodworkers is where the money has to come from when you don’t charge enough for the items you sell. It doesn’t matter who you sell to, whether it’s your favorite aunt or the president of a large company, it costs you the same to make.
If you don’t charge enough, then the lost money comes out of your pocket. So, how do you make sure you’re not losing money? To make money woodworking instead of losing it you have to plan all aspects of your projects ahead of time. Would anyone really want to buy it? There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s easy to make but the market is already flooded with imports and items from other woodworkers that, unknowingly, the sole profit is a pat on the. Making an item like this for yourself is one thing but if you include this in your portfolio of sellable items then you’ll lose time and money!
If you want to make money woodworking, talk to an accountant. If you’re planning to turn your woodworking skills into a small business then let your accountant help you set up your costs of running a shop.
You’ll need to hire one before tax season anyway, so do it. Make a list of all your costs to make each item. When making your list you can now include the fixed costs set up by your accountant. These fixed costs are what it costs you per day just to have a shop. Insurance, rent, upkeep. Then include all your material cost, even including glue, nails, and screws for that particular project.
Don’t forget to include labor costs and a set percentage for your shop. Some woodworkers set their labor costs low and don’t include a shop income. This is a shop growth killer. If you set your prices based on materials alone you will probably get very busy with a lot of work, but, no money at the end!
One thing you should remember is when your shop grows so does your expenses. Since it’s almost impossible to raise prices the extra cost has to come out of your pocket.
Remember, in order to make money woodworking you have to include all your costs. Now, look at cost by volume. If you decide to make an item, how many can you sell in one month or maybe three months?
To get the full use of your shop, schedule each item to be made by how many you expect to sell in any given time period. Plan the entire month by the amount of days it takes to make a quantity of each item.
This way you will have a better feel for how much it costs for each piece and how much you need to add to make a profit.
The price actually becomes secondary to the pleasant experience of purchasing an item made by you. Every time your customer looks at or uses the item you made, she remembers the professional treatment while the price becomes almost forgotten. As a matter of fact, when she shows off what she bought from youshe’ll tell her friends » Look at this great looking piece I was able to find!
She’ll never say «Look at this cheap thing I was able to. There are dozens of ways that woodworkers make money woodworking. One good way to find out how to make your hobby profitable is just ask or start a new thread at any of the good woodworking forums. Make Money Woodworking- Some thoughtful ideas. HOME Woodworking.
How many times have you heard a woodworker say; I love woodworking and I sell some of my work, but I could never make a living doing it. Iwth you ever tried to figure out why? Too much time with too little results! If you have a full time job and doing woodworking as a hobby, yet still want to sell and make some money doing woodworking, then you begin to realize that you are giving up most of your evenings, days off and week-ends allowing very little time for the family to make a few projects and make a few bucks. At dhop point, you begin to feel it would be impossible to replace your full time job with a woodworking career and make a living……………….
Stay Updated
This is where so many woodworkers fail to see the difference between being a hobbyist, a part woodworkingg woodworker and a full time professional wiyh. That will be determined by you and how much time you want to devote to woodworking. Do you want to treat woodworkimg as a hobby, a part time business and part time income, or do you want to be a professional business and make a full time income from your woodworking. You need to know where you fit into the equation, or maybe more importantly, where you want to fit into the equation. So you may need to ask yourself one more question; how much time do I spend at woodworking now and what kind of return am I getting on my investment of time. However many hours that may be now and how much you may be making, if you ramped that up to 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, would monry make a decent income for you?
Comments
Post a Comment